Power cuts affect 30,000 properties across Yorkshire and North East

Georgina Morris

More than 30,000 homes and businesses in Yorkshire and the North East have been hit by power cuts today as gale force winds wreak havoc.

Northern Powergrid, the company responsible for the region’s power network, said it has restored power to around 25,700 customers so far.

It said the high winds have had the most impact in the Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire areas with gusts of up to 70 miles per hour.

Supplies have been restored through repairs and diverting electricity through alternative routes on its network, wherever possible.

Engineers are still working to restore the power to 4,970 customers who are still affected.

Rod Gardner, Northern Powergrid’s head of network operations, said: “We’ve invested in maintaining and upgrading our network but weather like the gale force winds seen today can cause damage to our power network as result of by fallen trees and windborne debris coming into contact with our network.

“The strong winds are continuing to affect parts of our region but we’d like to reassure our customers that our engineers are working hard, in these challenging weather conditions, to get their power back on for our customers as soon as possible.”